How you live your life makes you who you are
by Mahjonggmania
Summary: Strange behaviour from Sou leads Mashiro to see that he's a tortured soul, has a heart of gold and maybe more
1. Chapter 1

This was born out a few thrown away from Coma and while there are some similarities between How you live your life makes you w

**This was born out a few thrown away from Coma and while there are some similarities between How you live your life makes you who you are is a completely sperate story**

**This is a fic so I own the plot and all author own characters I have created for this story**

_**After School Nightmare**_** belongs officially to Setona Mizushiro.**

_**Italics**_** is when a character is used to represent when a character is thinking **

In his whole life Mashiro Ichijo had never been happier. He was now a man. Last month he and his girlfriend Kureha Fujishima had consummated their relationship and with his monthly peirod reminding him him that his body was half female a long way off he was able to to live his dream of being a cool strong man.

He whistled to himself as he packed his bag for tomorrows classes untill he came to his english novel, _Romeo and Juliet_. This isn't mine he thought and sure enough the name inside read 蒼 水橋, (Sou Mizuhashi). Mashiro thought back to earlier in the day, when he and Sou had uncemolsoisly bummped in to each other sending their books flying.

_I must have picked up Sou's by mistake_ thought Mashiro. _Which means Sou must have mine._

.∞.

"Sou are you in there?" Mashiro called as he knocked on Sou's door

"Ichijo? What…What do you want?" came Sou's replie Sounding laboured

"Um…I think you have my english noel"

There were a few sufling noises and more laboured breathing sounds bem fore Sou responed

"So I do, han…Hang on a second" Mashiro heard the door unlock and expected Sou to appaer so that could exchange books but instead her heard anther door open and close from within the room.

" Your book is on the table Ichijo, just make sure you shut the door behined you when you leave"

"Eh…Okay" said Mashiro as he opend the door into Sou's room expecting to see Sou some where in the bed room trying to ingore him but the room was empthy with a strage lingiering smell.

_Is Sou trying out a new clo__gne or something?_.

That thought reminded him were he was. Feeling suddenly overwhelmed at being in Sou's room Mashiro quickly picked up his book and put Sou's in it's place before running to the door and closing it behind him.

_What st__range behaviour _Mashiro though to himself as he made his way back to his room.

To be contiued

You will find the reson behind Sou's strge behaouivr in the next chapter but only if I get enough reviews.

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	2. Blood and bruises

How you live your life makes you is a fic so I own the plot and all author own characters I have created for this story

**How you live your life makes you is a fic so I own the plot and all author own characters I have created for this story**

_**After School Nightmare**_** belongs officially to Setona Mizushiro.**

**Now let's find out the reason behind Sou's strange behaviour last chapter**

**By the way can some one tell me how to call a first chapter something other than chapter 1, since I seriously have no idea. By the way the first chapter is known as Strange Behaviour **

Sou had been absent from school the next day leading Mashiro to continue to wonder about Sou's strange behaviour the previse evening, not even a bright couple conversation between him and Kureha at lunch time could drag him away from those particular thoughts. _Kendo practice should help me clear my head_ Mashiro thought as he headed towards the dojo.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Ichijo can I ask a favour of you" asked the leader of Kendo club Kurosaki

"Of course Sempai" replied Mashiro who was only to happy to help

"Could you go check on Sou fro me?"

"I thought Sou was no longer part of the Kendo club"

"He has yet to hand in his resignation"

"Ah" was all Mashiro could mange to say"

.∞.

_Why are you doing this Mashiro_ he siad to himself as he walked along the corrider to Sou's room._I should have politely decliend__,Sempai knows we don't get along and I'm sure he would have understood._ Mashiro heard and saw Sou's door opening caused him to become nervous and to completely avoid the possibility of Sou, Mashiro ducked under the stairs located at the end of the hallway. _This is brilliant_ thought Mashiro,_ I don't have to actually talk to Sou I can just look at him and see if something's wrong as he leaves his room._

But it wasn't Sou Mashiro saw coming out of the boy's room, it was a guy, who even though was dressed in the male school uniform was no student. He looked to be mid- to late twenties and his dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. The fake student must of realised that he was being watched and looked straight in Mashiro's direction, Mashiro shrunk right back into the shadows and dared not breath even though the man was a good distance away. Satisfied the man turned away then took out a white hankie-chief from his pocket and whipped his left hand before letting the hankie-chief flutter to the ground and walking away.

Mashiro waited until he was sure that the man was on the ground floor at least before leaving his hiding place and picking up the previously thrown away hankie-chief. There was a large red stain growing as it was soaked in to the hankie-chief's fibres and when Mashiro put the satin up to his nose he became seriously worried. The satin was blood, Sou's blood? Fear and dread whelled up within Mashiro and without a second thought for the rules of educate he barged right into Sou's room, and what he saw made his blood run cold.

"Oh God" said Mashiro as he surveyed the scene in front of him. Sou was bent double near the end of his bed Obviously in pain and a small pool of blood was forming on the flood from its source somewhere on Sou's face.

"Sou?" said Mashiro as he bent down to get a better look at the dark haired boy. Sou looked up and Mashiro was relived to see that most of the blood was from a nose bleed and a cut on Sou's lower lip. _Thank God_ Mashiro thought, even thougt he didn't know why . However the more he looked at the dark haired boys face Mashiro noticed that his right eye was barely open and the left one looked really dull. _What is going on?_ he thought to himself.

"Ich…hijo….please…hel…p me up" came Sou's voice sounding laboured

"Ah…yes" said Mashiro, and he placed his arms under Sou's shoulders. By having his body right next to Sou's Mashiro knew that Sou winced in pain as he locked his arms in place to support the other boy. But that was just the first of many winces from Sou as Mashiro stood him up and lead him to his bed. Once Sou was sitting Mashiro ordered that Sou tilt his head back with the hankie-chief on his nose until the bleeding stopped.

"I'm fine" said Sou after about fifteen minutes, "It was just a nose bleed …and a cut lip"

"Nose bleeds and cut lips generally don't make people fall to the floor in pain Sou" Mashiro retorted

"Well I'm anaemic" answered Sou, but Mashiro shook his head

"Nice try but no way are you anaemic, but any way Sou who was that guy I saw leaving your room"

"Just an old friend"

"Who beat you up?"

"Why do you care Ichijo?!" said Sou, his dull eyes becoming hard "It doesn't concern you" Sou tried to rise off the bed to gain some hight over Mashiro, but he just collapsed back on the bed breathing hard

Mashiro exhaled while closing his eyes " You're right it doesn't concern me, forget I ever said anything"_at least until I find out what the hell was going on in here _he added silently.

Clapping his hands together to show Sou he meant business Mashiro said " Alright you need to go clean up Sou, so go have a shower, while I go down to the main office and get something to clean the floor with". Sou's lips moved to a cross between a smile and a smirk.

"What?!" asked Mashiro

"You sound just a like mother "said Sou his lips taking on more the shape of a smirk.

Mashiro hoped Sou didn't see him blush as he rushed out of the room.

.∞.

Mashiro retuned to Sou's room a few minutes later cleaning products in hand. _I hope Sou's okay I just left him on the bed and it seemed like he could barley move._ But Sou wasn't in the main part of the room_. Did he mange to make it to the shower _Mashiro thought as he opened the door to the bathroom.

"So…" what Mashiro saw when he opend the bathroom door stoped him in his tracks. Sou was standing in front of his bathroom's full length mirror with a towel around his waist dripping wet. Sou's upper body was covered in bruises, centred on his stomach and his dark eyes were red rimed. Mashiro closed the door quietly and leaned against the wall tears in his eyes. Sou was obviously in a lot of pain if he had been crying, _what the hell is going on here? _Mashiro thought himself, for the second time that day, as he wiped the tears away from his eyes unsure what had set them off.

Hearing the bathroom door open Mashiro quickly positioned himself in a keeling position over the blood stained floor.

"Ichijo?" came Sou's voice barley a whisperer

"Ah…Sou" said Mashiro looking up, thankfully Sou had changed in the bathroom, but by the way he was holding him self Mashiro knew that the boy was tried both metally and physically. Gone was his proud self-righteous posture which was now replaced with stopping and hunching and his passionate dark eyes were once again dull

"You should get some sleep Sou"

"Uh, and what are you going to do?'

"What?!"

"I really don't feel comfortable having you in my room, let alone have you hear while I'm sleeping". _Damn even when he's in pain he's still an arrogant jerk._ Sou eyes darted to the floor before landing back on Mashiro,

"You have five minutes" he said as he made his way to his bed

"Eh?"

"That floor cleaner only needs to be in contact with the floor for five minutes" replied Sou fully in his bed, Mashiro looked at the directions Sou was right.

"Sou how did you know that?" he asked, but all Mashiro herd was a mumble that went along the lines of having to help with the house work at home.

When the five minutes were up Mashiro took his leave, but not before having one last look at Sou.

While he was asleep Sou looked like a completely different person, he looked at peace. This thought caused Mashiro smile, He noticed something glittering from the bedside table Picking it up Mashiro saw that it was the key to Sou's dorm room. Had Sou let his attacker in? Well if that was how things had happened Mashiro wasn't going to let it happen again.

Mashiro put the key in his pocket and retrieved a piece of paper from his bed side draw he explained to Sou what he done folded the paper in half and wrote蒼 (Sou) on the side closest to the sleeping boy. Mashiro then exited the room locking the door behind him.

**To be continued… **

**Thank you WingsofZero for your wonderful review. However I will only put up the next chapter if I receive more reviews. Also from now on I am going to be placing excerpts from the coming chapter on my page so go have a look.**

**Dedicated to my geography teacher Dr Greg Crombie, may God hold you forever in the hollow of his hand.**


	3. Finding common ground

**Big shout out to** **we've all got our junk for beta reading this chapter not once but twice!!**

**A/N I sincerely apologies to all that have been waiting since beyond forever for me to update this story, but when I sent this chapter to we've all got our junk originally via DocX I never received the chapter itself back (only the standard DocX recvied email)**

**While I was trying to sort that out life dished me up a healthy serving of crap, which left me either unable or in no mood to write. With any luck any future updates will not be this long but I can't predict the future can I? **

**Disclaimer: This is a fic so I own the plot and the author owns the characters I have used for this story.**

**_After School Nightmare_**** belongs to Setona Mizushiro.**

**_Italics_**** is when a character is used to represent when a character is thinking **

**In the last chapter the reason behind Sou's strange behavior was revealed. Now the question is how is it going to affect the relationship between Sou and Mashiro. Read on to find out. **

It was the last period of the day and Mashiro was anxious to return to the dormitory.

He had been unable to get the image of Sou battered, bruised and bleeding out of his mind no matter how hard he tried and the worry (**Mashiro was still unsure where that was coming from**) to the point that he had gone to check on Sou before school.

Unlocking the door and putting his head round the door told him Sou was asleep in **his**bed. He was about to shut the door when a groaning sound reached hie ears. Closing the door behind him Mashiro made his way to the bed. _What is going on?_ thought Mashiro as he watched Sou sleep and dream. The dark haired boy appeared to be peacefully asleep on minute and in pure terror the next. His face would constrict into a mixture **pain****,** torture and groans and then incomprehensible cries would escape from his lips.

Unsure what else to do, Mashiro felt Sou's forehead. '_He's burning up.' _ Going to the bathroom Mashiro ran a washcloth he had found near the **sink** under cold water. Placing the damp cloth on Sou's head appeared to be helping his fever go down.

Mashiro was about to leave when Sou spoke.

"Always alone"

"Huh**_?_**"

"I'm always alone. Even when you are with are with me"

"Sou?" Mashiro said quietly unsure if should **wake** him up or not since he was obviously having a nightmare but the shock of awoken from such an intense sleep may be too much.

"Sou**_?_**" said Mashiro leaning closer. **Another**small droplet of water began to roll down Sou's cheek. Sou was crying?

Mashiro was really starting to worry and freak out. Sou **rolled** over and was now facing Mashiro, this caused Sou to wake up and open his eyes

"Ichijo?"

Mashiro gasped.

"Ichijo what are you doing here?"

"Um, well I…" Mashiro was unsure what to say and it appeared that Sou had no idea that he had talked and cried **in** his sleep and Mashiro wasn't about to tell him. Unable to continue to look at Sou, Mashiro's eyes went instead to the bedside table where he spotted the note the note he had written yesterday.

"I actually came to return your key to you" he said taking placing the key from his pocket on the table and making his way to the door. "Well get lots of rest and feel better soon Sou." Mashiro said as he opened the door into the hallway hoping Sou couldn't see **that******he was blushing.

.∞.

Mashiro spent the rest of the day in a daze where he affected his surroundings but his surroundings had no impact on him.

What Sou had unwitting**ly** showed him raised even more **questions******and answered none. Mashiro who was still coming to terms with the fact that Sou had tear ducts and where did that "always alone" speech come from? Didn't Sou have a sister who he was enamoured with? Or had Sou been expressing how he really felt about his sister? Then there was the other mater of Sou being **beaten** severely by an 'old friend', which had lead to Mashiro seeing him naked and vulnerable. Mashiro had never seen Sou look that way before. No, he had. When Mashiro rejected him he had looked as bad if not worse then he did in the bathroom.

'_I don't regret hurting him. It had to be done'_ Mashiro thought firmly. '_But I should at least try help him get through whatever he's _**_dealing with_**_'_Mashiro **paused** to think before continuing along his chosen path _. 'He reached out to me, even if it_**was unconsciously**___so I should at least tell him that I will be there for him_.' Well that was what Mashiro was telling himself as he found **himself outside** Sou's door ready to knock.

"Come in" said Sou from the other side of the door. Mashiro opened the door wide enough to poke his head round it, hoping to be able to see that Sou was okay, only to **realize** that Sou was lying down in bed and couldn't be seen. This meant Mashiro would have to go into the room to see Sou.

The bruise on Sou's face had already started to come out and Mashiro could only imagine what the ones on Sou's chest and stomach looked like. As soon as he saw **Mashiro****, **Sou's**_face hardened_****.**

"What do you want?" he asked in the most aggressive tone he could muster

"Well I…"

"Cause if you want an apology for that time, you aren't going to get one"

"Who said I wanted one anyway?!" said Mashiro outraged. The thought that Sou had looked hurt after his out right rejection gone from his mind

"Come on Ichijo, who in their right mind would come to the aid of **the person**that they hate the most?"

"I don't like seeing people hurt, even you Sou" answered Mashiro quietly but defiantly

"That's a load of bullshit**_!_**" yelled Sou trying to get up only to fall back on his pillow. It was then that Mashiro noticed the **sweat** across Sou's brow.

"You still have a fever?" he asked.

"So what…" answered Sou

"Sou, where's your wash cloth?"

Sou**_,_** taken **aback****_,_****answered**simply "the **bedside** table" **Mashiro** picked up the wash cloth and wet it in the **sink** before placing **it******back on Sou's head

"Ichijo just get out. I can't bear to be in the same room as you at the moment." said Sou tiredly

"Well if that's how you truly feel**…**" said Mashiro as he the door behind him. Felling surprisingly hurt once he was on the other side.

.∞.

Mashiro was surprised to see Sou at School the next day his buries obviously apparent.

"Mizuhashi, care to **explain**why you have been **absent** these past few days?" asked the home room teacher

"I had a nasty fall." replied Sou flatly. "Which you can **clearly** see"

The teacher **nodded**, and Sou took his seat at the back of the class without giving anyone in the room, including Mashiro, a second glance.

By lunchtime Mashiro was anxious to leave the room but he had to wait for Kureha to return the textbooks they had used in class to the teachers table before they could go leave together

Sou was in the classroom, still packing up after the rest of their classmates had left. Try as he might, Mashiro found his attention constantly directed at Sou. Mashiro sighed and gave just stared at the dark haired boy under the pre text **of seeing if he had** fully recovered or if he hadn't

Sou was clearly having trouble moving. He was in obvious discomfort even in his current casually standing pose His movements were as stiff as cardboard **and******his joints appeared to be unwilling to bend. It also looked like Sou was biting down hard on his lower lip.

Mashiro shook his head trying to remove all the current confusing thoughts running through his mind, that had suddenly risen from God knows where as Mashiro **_s_****aw**Sou in his current state. He decided to **focus** on Kureha as she move through each row of the classroom, which didn't help since she was now in the same row as Sou, so the boy was currently in his line of sight.

Kureha approached Sou's desk quietly as Sou was battling to try and take his school bag of its hook. Kureha suddenly and unquestionably deliberately pushed all of Sou's books and stationary on to the floor

Kureha gave a **quiet** "So sorry." before moving on.

Mashiro couldn't believe what he just saw. Kureha was sweet and cute, not full of malice! Okay…maybe she was but she didn't act on that malice. **At**least Mashiro didn't think so.

It was then that Mashiro's feet decided to act on their own, moving towards Sou, while of their own accord his hand picked up everything that had fallen on the floor.

"Thanks" said Sou, never looking directly at Mashiro even when he placed everything that had fallen back on the dark haired boy's desk.

"It was nothing" replied Mashiro "But Sou…" **Mashiro** never got to finish his sentence since Sou had suddenly **passed** out and was now in free fall.

.∞.

Mashiro heard from one of the infirmary nurses that that while Sou's **bruises** were big and deep they carried no long term damage and the reason he had collapsed was because he had **succumbed**to his fever before it had finally broken a few minutes ago.

_That idiot _thought Mashiro as he made his way to the infirmary.

As he walked into the infirmary Mashiro saw Sou **buttoning** up his shirt, but the bright lights of the room allowed Mashiro to glimpse at the dark **bruises** underneath.

"Why are you here?" asked Sou, wincing noticeably as he put he put on his blazer

"I…um" Mashiro wasn't sure himself

"Well thanks for bringing me to the infirmary and all, but I can take it from here"

"Why did you come to school if you still had a fever?" asked Mashiro suddenly. He knew he had gone to far when Sou's dark eyes **hardened**.

"I had my reasons." he replied coldly.

"Fine whatever" said Mashiro throwing up his **hands** in defeat. **Realizing** that the direct approach was never going to work, Mashiro wondered how he was going to find out what the hell was going on when he spotted Sou's bag on the table and had brilliant idea.

Picking up Sou's bag he began to walk out of the room

"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Sou

"I'm taking your bag back to your dorm." replied Mashiro. "Now come on."

And that was how Mashiro found himself carrying Sou's bag with the dark haired boy behind him, walking in the schools garden in the midday sun. Mashiro had never **particularly**liked or disliked flowers but he had always felt calm and peaceful walking through beautiful school gardens, and walking through **the**area he only saw in the early morning or late afternoon was quite something. He bent down at a **flowerbed**containing red roses and began to drink in the gentle aroma coming from the plants.

"You know," said Sou coming up behind him. 'Red roses are meant to signify passion, white is purity and yellow is the end of a relationship"

"How do you know something like that?" asked Mashiro standing up

"When your **mother is** a floral designer you tend to pick these things up." answered Sou turning towards the dorm.

Mashiro smiled to himself, it seemed that he had found his new approach.

**TBC……**

**A/N if anyone is wondering where I got that information on roses it's from the movie **_**Green Fingers **_

**Decided to my Grandfather-May you rest in peace 'Grumpy' **


End file.
